The article explores fundamentalism in new religious movements, a topic that is virtually unknown in Russian religious studies. It focuses on the problems and prospects for legitimizing this phenomenon. The reasons for the obscurity of fundamentalism in NRM lie in modernity's nature, which is shaped by tradition. The costs of representative models such as “tradition – modernism”, “tradition – fundamentalism” and “fundamentalism – modernism”, as well as features of the socio-political system have made fundamentalism a pattern for NRM. Given that NRM is an important indicator of transformation in religion, society, and culture, fundamentalism can serve as a lens for studying new forms of fundamentalism. NRM's fundamentalism is also an additional predictive tool that allows you to recognize the risk areas of so-called “mistaken identities” caused by the growing “fundamentals mania”. Finally, the fundamentalism of new religious movements proves not only the limits of the representative models “tradition – modernism”, “tradition-fundamentalism” which opposes “cult of fundamentals” or religious innovation to tradition, but also the representative model “fundamentalism – modernism”, through which new religious movements are interpreted as opposed to fundamentalism.

Key words: new religious movements, modernity, fundamentalism, modernism, tradition, “competing tradition”, secularization

DOI: 10.22250/20728662_2024_2_77

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About the authors

	Natalia M. Markova – PhD in Philosophy, Assistant Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies; Vladimir State University n.a. A.G. and N.G. Stoletovs; 87 Gorkogo St., Vladimir, 600000, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Evgeny I. Arinin – Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Head of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Vladimir State University n.a. A.G. and N.G. Stoletovs; 87 Gorkogo St., Vladimir, 600000, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.